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Bergen woman accused of stealing $35,000 from elderly woman's bank accounts

By Howard B. Owens

NOTE: This case was dimissed in July or August of 2010.

A Bergen woman is under investigation by State Police for allegedly fraudulently gaining access to an elderly woman's bank accounts and stealing thousands of dollars.

Michele Case, 45, of 7100 N. Bergen Road, has already been indicted on two counts of grand larceny by a Genesee County grand jury and faces a grand jury hearing in Orleans County.

Investigator Leo Hunter of the New York State Police said Case allegedly stole more than $35,000 from Alfreda May, a former Rochester resident who moved to Holley before her death.

Hunter said the case started when the mother of Case's boyfriend was found late one night wandering a residential street in Rochester in nothing but her nightgown looking through trash cans.

May was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with dementia, a diagnosis later confirmed by her personal physician.

Case then took May to her attorney -- "not Alfreda May's attorney, not the family's attorney," Hunter said -- and had herself made power of attorney for Alfreda May.

After becoming power of attorney, Hunter said, Case broke up with her boyfriend and began allegedly accessing May's bank accounts for her personal use.

On Dec. 6, in Genesee County, Case was indicted on two counts of grand larceny, 3rd.

The indictment alleged that between July 2004 and September 2005, Case wrote checks and made e-check withdrawals from the woman's account for a total of $10,799.

The second count alleges that while in the City of Batavia, on the same dates, Case made ATM withdrawals from May's account for $3,697.20.

Hunter is unsure when the case will be submitted to the Orleans County grand jury.

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